“Romantic” Cases under the POCSO Act: An Analysis of Judgments of Special Courts in Assam, Maharashtra & West Bengal

In light of emerging concerns across India on the increasing trend of minors and young adults being entrapped under provisions penalising child sexual abuse (the POCSO Act, 2012) and statutory rape laws, Enfold Proactive Health Trust, a Bangalore based organisation launched an analysis of POCSO cases in Assam, Maharashtra, and West Bengal which were registered and disposed between 2016 to 2020. The research analysed 1715 “romantic cases”, which constituted cases where the “victim” girl, parents of the victim girl, or a prosecution witness stated that there was a “romantic relationship” between the girl and the accused. It also included cases where the Court concluded the existence of a romantic relationship between the “victim” girl and accused person.

The analysis looks into the judicial trends to understand the nature of "victims" and "accused persons" in these cases, the nature of their relationship, the facets of adolescent consent to sexual activity, as well as the manner in which Courts interpret the law in these cases.

The research was supported by UNICEF-India and UNFPA and published in December, 2022.